A high voltage drama was witnessed all through the day during the filing of nomination papers by the Congress nominee for the Adampur assembly seat on Tuesday that culminated in a major embarrassment for senior party leader Mohinder Singh Kaypee.
Till the last moment, the Congress high command continued the guessing game, with both the claimants — Kaypee and Sukhwinder Singh Kotli — waiting at the office of returning officer, all prepared to file their papers. It was just 10 minutes before the finishing of nomination process that Kotli gets the high command’s go-ahead as the Congress’ official nominee, with dejected Kaypee leaving the venue red-faced.
Both key contenders, including former Minister Kaypee and on-hold candidate Kotli, were made to wait till 2.50 pm before the Congress co-in-charge Chetan Chauhan finally handed over the ticket to the latter.
In what is seen as interesting development, Kaypee entered the office of the Returning Officer at around 2:30 pm, and had even started the process of filing of papers. He had already presented his file, and even signed a few papers and got the signatures of the proposer done when Kotli too entered the RO’s office in excitement.
He had, by then, got the authority letter which Kaypee kept on expecting till then. At this, Kaypee got a call and left announcing that he had withdrawn his papers. Today, February 1, is the last of filing nominations.
Kaypee, who has also been Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president and Jalandhar MP, said that he never felt so insulted. “I really do not know why the party did this to me. I was in contact on phone since morning and was kept in complete confusion. This should not have been the way,” said visibly upset Kaypee.
He added, “If they were to deny me ticket, they should have told me straightaway without complicating the matter. There was no need to do all this drama that the seat was being reviewed.”
Notably, a day before, Kotli had gone to Chandigarh, leading to speculations that the high command is reviewing the seat, and his ticket had been kept on hold. Kotli returned to Jalandhar only on Tuesday morning.
Since morning, the news of party high command deciding to field Kaypee from Adampur while withdrawing Kotli’s candidature has been doing rounds, with several television new channels and also web portals started airing the news. Hundreds of Kaypee’s supporters have reached his residence to congratulate the leader.
However, the leader refused to accept the wishes, making it clear that he would wait for the official declaration and also the party ticket.
The Congress had already announced former BSP leader, Kotli, as party nominee from Adampur — the seat which Kaypee had reluctantly represented in 2017 polls. At that time, Kaypee lost to SAD’s sitting MLA Pawan Kumar Tinu.
After being denied ticket, Kaypee had turned rebel and was considering to contest as independent.
However, with the Congress keeping a suspense over its decision on party nominee till the last moment, it managed to check a rebel fighting polls against it, at least in Adampur.
There were reports that the high command is reviewing Adampur seat, along with Khadoor Sahib, from where two-time sitting MLA Ramanjit Sikki has already filed his nomination. In Khadoor Sahib, sitting MP Jabir Singh Dimpa Gill continues to exert pressure seeking party ticket, with the party divided on the issue.
ECI REFUSES TO RECOGNISE SSM AS A POLITICAL PARTY, CANDIDATES TO CONTEST AS INDEPENDENTS
In what is being seen as a major setback for the farmers’ political outfit, Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM), the Election Commission of India (ECI) has refused to recognise it as a political party, forcing its candidates to contest the February 20 Punjab elections as independents.
The poll panel has also turned down its request of allotting a common poll symbol — the tractor or a trolley — to all party candidates. Notably, the SSM, which has fielded candidates on 104 seats with Balbir Singh Rajewal its Chief Ministerial face, had demanded a common election symbol.
Rajewal has also filed his papers as independents on Tuesday.
The SSM is a political front of Punjab’s 18 farmer unions who had taken part in a year-long protest at the Delhi borders against the Centre's contentious farm laws, which have been now withdrawn.
Questioning the EC's move, the SSM has blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It had accused the BJP and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of being in “hand in glove” against it.
Rajewal had alleged that the BJP and the Election Commission are “playing a game”, claiming that his outfit had responded promptly to the poll panel's objections over the application for the allotment of party symbol.
The farmer leader alleged that the poll panel never responded in “yes or no” to their application due to which they can't “approach the court” for the redress of their grievance.
“I, as the SSM president, wrote a letter to the Election of Commission of India through the state poll panel, which was forwarded but no reply was given,” he said, alleging that the poll panel is “under pressure”.
“Either they want to help the BJP or Kejriwal,” he alleged.